Geriatrics scoring hat-tricks every Wednesday

Harold "Joe" Tarbox skates at the Gardens Ice House on Sept. 17 in Laurel during a practice session of the Laurel Gerihatricks.

Every Wednesday morning, hockey players skate around the Gardens Ice House in Laurel, playing a game of pickup. But these aren't youth, teenage or even adult hockey players. They are 70 and older, and members of the Laurel-based Gerihatricks senior ice hockey team.

Tom Christy, 70, Harold "Joe" Tarbox, 73, and Bob Elvander, 69, are the only Laurel and Prince George's County residents on the team that draws from central Maryland, northern Virginia, Washington D.C., and even Canada. The 11-member team won the 2008 National Senior Games Association ice hockey championship, held last month in Providence, R.I.

The Gerihatricks is a co-ed hockey team for players aged 50 and above. There are currently three teams for 50, 60-, and 70-year-olds. Silver Spring resident Bill Wellington formed the team in 1995 as a way for seniors to still be able to lace up and skate.

Christy is the only one of the Laurel residents with a substantial hockey background. He played throughout grade school in his native Cincinnati, Ohio, before one year of intercollegiate hockey at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He then worked for the Navy as an electronic warfare specialist, but after some time away from the rink, he played in the full-contact Chesapeake League at age 30. Since then, he's played on and off in various Maryland hockey leagues.

Tarbox and Elvander only played pickup hockey as youths. Tarbox played on the frozen ponds of North Reading, Mass.; Elvander skated on the iced cranberry bogs of Cape Cod. The two stopped playing as Tarbox went into the Air Force before working at a warehouse in Jessup, and Elvander became a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

Whereas Elvander played again in the now-defunct Potomac Men's Hockey League in the 1970s, Tarbox never laced up a pair of skates again until his retirement in 1995. All three said the sport allows them to be physically active, something their doctors recommend.

According to John Buchleitner, team manager and Severna Park resident, there are usually 20 to 30 teams participating at the NSGA at the 60-plus age level, with 15 players per team. Each player provides their own equipment.

The players' activities have raised some eyebrows from family and friends.

"They think I'm slightly bonkers up here," Christy said as he tapped his temple. "Some of the ladies ask Mrs. Christy why in the world she lets me do this."

But the wives find enjoyment in seeing their husbands play.

"It's a little bit emotional for me because we're all getting older," Anne Tarbox said. "But they are doing such active and wonderful things as old as they are. We're all real proud of them. All the women feel the same way."

Like typical hockey players, each player has been injured in one way or another. Christy hurt his knee in 2000, and hurt his shoulder, which required surgery, in 2003. The same goes for Tarbox, who cracked a few ribs and lost some teeth.

Yet each player intends to continue until they physically cannot.

"I'm sure at some point I'll probably have a career-ending injury," Christy said.

Elvander said he will retire when it becomes too physically difficult or he is unable to participate in a reasonable manner.

Tarbox said he'll "die on the ice."

This dedication derives from passion toward the game and the camaraderie in the locker room.

"The guys have a sense of humor and the guys band together," Wellington said. None of us are aspiring for anything more than comradeship and playing."

The Gerihatrick will host their annual spring tournament March 20-22, 2009.